Barcelona, 1 October 2024—QUARTER participated in the third multi-vendor live QKD demonstration organized by the PETRUS consortium, this time at the ECOC Exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany. This latest demonstration brought together an expanded group of QKD and Key Management System (KMS) providers, presenting a sophisticated, real-time quantum key distribution network and practical use cases.
Collaborating with four other QKD vendors and three KMS providers, LuxQuanta provided a pair of NOVA LQ® CV-QKD systems for the comprehensive network architecture. The showcase featured a quantum-secure videoconference demonstration and the use of quantum technology in a lottery app, highlighting how seamlessly QKD technology can integrate into everyday applications, such as video communications.
The Mini EuroQCI Demonstration: A Step Toward a Quantum-Secured Europe
The “mini EuroQCI” demonstration represents a sophisticated network architecture comprising six Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) links from independent QKD manufacturers, each generating unique encryption keys. These links are managed by a Key Management Layer—a software solution designed to handle the keys and supply the necessary ones to encryptors, ensuring they have QKD keys to secure communications.
In this demonstration, various Key Management System (KMS) providers manage different pairs of independent QKD links, forming three distinct KMS domains. A notable achievement of this collaboration is the mutual understanding between KMS software, which enables the seamless transmission of keys between them. This interoperability maintains the integrity and efficiency of the three KMS domains and the overall viability of the demo.
The encryptors, provided by Telsy, request the required keys as needed, ensuring secure and uninterrupted communication.
At the application level, the QKD keys encrypt a live videoconference running in Telsy software. In addition, Ericsson has introduced an innovative quantum application through a quantum lottery app. This basic gambling game application leverages true randomness generated by Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs). The game’s information is transmitted securely using the QKD links featured in the demonstration, highlighting the practical applications of QKD technology beyond traditional communication systems.
The demonstration highlights several critical aspects of the current state of QKD technology.
1. Interoperability: it emphasizes interoperability between different QKD vendors and various management service providers who have adopted a common standard for collaboration. This standardization is crucial for fostering widespread adoption and ensuring compatibility across different systems, an essential step for broader adoption of quantum technologies.
2. Maturity: the demo illustrates the maturity of QKD technology, demonstrating its capability to operate effectively in everyday applications. This readiness signifies that QKD is no longer theoretical or experimental technology, but that it is ready for practical implementation in routine communication environments.
3. Complex Architecture: The deployment of a sophisticated QKD network architecture, managed by multiple independent vendors, showcased the scalability and readiness of QKD technology to meet current communication security needs.
QUARTER involved in Europe’s Quantum Strategy
PETRUS CSA coordinates the deployment of EuroQCI, a project that aims to establish a pan-European quantum communication infrastructure to secure Europe’s most critical data. As part of EuroQCI’s mission, several projects have been launched to make it possible. QUARTER, led by LuxQuanta, aims to advance the maturity level of Quantum Key Distribution and related technologies for practical deployment.
Collaborative Effort Across Europe
This ambitious project brings together 11 leading partners across Europe, including:
- Main Contributors: AIT Austrian Institutet of Technology and Deutsche Telekom
- Key Management Layer Providers: Polytechnical University of Madrid (UPM), Hochschule Darmstadt, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
- Encryption Layer: Telsy
- Application Providers: Telsy, Ericsson
- Quantum Layer Providers: LuxQuanta, QTI – Quantum Telecommunications Italy (QTI), KeeQuant, ThinkQuantum, Quantum Optics Jena
This is evidence of European efforts to drive the development of the technology and its practical implementation within European networks.
